Gunshot Residue

Two days before her 11th birthday, Siretha White (right) attended a surprise birthday party for her cousin without realizing the festivities would be for her as well. But the celebration turned tragic when gunfire erupted outside her aunt's Englewood home and Siretha was fatally shot in the head by a bullet that had pierced the front window.The shooting in March 2006 shocked the impoverished community, coming a little more than a week after honor student Starkesia Reed, 14, was killed by...

A 27-year-old Ford Heights Man was ordered held on bond for killing another man after sheriff's police arrested the man while they were on routine patrol in the south suburb, officials said. Terry Anderson of the 900 block of East 16th Street was charged with first degree murder in the fatal shooting of Maurice Lawton, 25, of the 900 block of East 15th Street, also of Ford Heights, according to a press release issued by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Anderson appeared before Cook...

Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis today said his investigators have concluded that the death of school board president Michael Scott was a suicide, agreeing with a finding last month by the medical examiner. Scott was found with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head on Nov. 16, according to authorities. His body was at the water's edge of the Chicago River behind the Chicago Apparel Center at 350 N. Orleans St., police said. He apparently fell...

The man accused of killing an aspiring Joliet rapper in a recording studio two years ago was angry, one witness said, that the victim was more interested in his music than gang life. A Will County jury found Alexander "Big Al" Moore guilty this afternoon of first-degree murder in the January 2008 shooting death of Kyle Parnell, 19, who was known as K-Nell. During the three-day trial, witnesses gave differing accounts of why Moore shot Parnell, a former athlete and drummer...

The man accused of killing an aspiring Joliet rapper in a recording studio two years ago was angry, one witness said, that the victim was more interested in his music than gang life. A Will County jury found Alexander "Big Al" Moore guilty this afternoon of first-degree murder in the January 2008 shooting death of Kyle Parnell, 19, who was known as K-Nell. During the three-day trial, witnesses gave differing accounts of why Moore shot Parnell, a former athlete and drummer...

Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis today said his investigators have concluded that the death of school board president Michael Scott was a suicide, agreeing with a finding last month by the medical examiner. Scott was found with a gunshot wound to the left side of his head on Nov. 16, according to authorities. His body was at the water's edge of the Chicago River behind the Chicago Apparel Center at 350 N. Orleans St., police said. He apparently fell...

A 27-year-old Ford Heights Man was ordered held on bond for killing another man after sheriff's police arrested the man while they were on routine patrol in the south suburb, officials said. Terry Anderson of the 900 block of East 16th Street was charged with first degree murder in the fatal shooting of Maurice Lawton, 25, of the 900 block of East 15th Street, also of Ford Heights, according to a press release issued by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Anderson appeared before Cook...

Chicago police have gathered more evidence indicating Chicago school board president Michael Scott took his own life last month, but Supt. Jody Weis isn't quite ready to go along with the Cook County medical examiner and call his death a suicide. Weis said video cameras show Scott did not stop or meet anyone Nov. 15 during his drive from his sister's in the South Loop to the Apparel Center along the North Branch of the Chicago River, where Scott was found dead hours later of a...

A black Range Rover belonging to Fredrick Goings was parked just outside Nova Henry's townhome early on the morning of Jan. 24, hours before her body and that of her infant daughter Ava were discovered lying in pools of blood, a prosecutor said today in court. Using cell phone records, investigators tracked down the SUV to the parking lot of an Indiana hotel. Inside the vehicle they found a bullet and a casing that matched the caliber of those used to kill Henry and her...

Three men have been charged with killing a man in a drive-by shooting outside his South Side home earlier this week that left three other people wounded, authorities said today. Renauld Darling, 38, was shot Monday night when people in a blue Dodge Charger sedan fired on him and the other three victims -- a woman and two men -- authorities said. The four had just been dropped off at Darling's apartment in the 6300 block of South Ellis Avenue when the gunfire broke out. Michael Minnifield, 22, of...

Few new details emerged as Cook County on Monday finally released autopsy and other reports of the medical examiner's investigation into the high-profile suicides last year of Chicago school board president Michael Scott and political fundraiser Christopher Kelly. The documents were released months after the Tribune and other news outlets sought them under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Scott, 60, president of the Chicago Board of Education and a close friend of Mayor...

Chicago police have gathered more evidence indicating Chicago school board president Michael Scott took his own life last month, but Supt. Jody Weis isn't quite ready to go along with the Cook County medical examiner and call his death a suicide. Weis said video cameras show Scott did not stop or meet anyone Nov. 15 during his drive from his sister's in the South Loop to the Apparel Center along the North Branch of the Chicago River, where Scott was found dead hours later of a...

Two days before her 11th birthday, Siretha White (right) attended a surprise birthday party for her cousin without realizing the festivities would be for her as well. But the celebration turned tragic when gunfire erupted outside her aunt's Englewood home and Siretha was fatally shot in the head by a bullet that had pierced the front window.The shooting in March 2006 shocked the impoverished community, coming a little more than a week after honor student Starkesia Reed, 14, was killed by...

Prosecutors detailed for the first time today their circumstantial evidence against William Balfour, portraying the slayings of three of actress Jennifer Hudson's family members as the work of a jealous husband. William Balfour's long arrest history Timeline of the Hudson case PHOTOS: The Hudson family tragedy ...

A third Chicago man was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a Chicago police officer in June, police said today. Christopher Harris, 20 of the 6200 block of South Paulina Street, was charged Friday with first-degree murder. He was ordered held without bail today by Circuit Court Judge Peggy Chiampas. Harris was taken into custody Friday after a witness identified him as a third person involved in the June 1 shooting of Chicago Police Officer Alejandro...